The Adventures of Amelia Frederick: The First Adventure
by Seventeen Galaxies
Summary: Introductory story of Amelia Frederick, an OC of mine, and her first debacle on the USS Enterprise. Expecting to head a routine botanical survey on Acheron V, Frederick was must test her adaptive abilities when a previously missing Andorian ship contacts the Enterprise. Needless to say, Frederick's first days on the Enterprise do not go quite as she expected. *Work in progress.


Chapter 1

On the Enterprise

I felt myself surfacing out of the dream. I never just wake up, like other people do. I feel it coming. I became lighter and lighter, and my eyes opened very slowly. The somewhat dark ceiling hovered above me, welcoming me back to the world of the conscious. Wow. What an amazing dream. The beach on the east side of the settlement on Andros IV was always the best, but there had never been a talking food replicator reciting Shakespeare there before. Dreams can be so poetic. Sigh.

I rolled over to the right but the wall stopped me. Very confused, I flopped onto my back.

"Damn." I muttered under my breath. My quarters on the Calpurnia were almost completely opposite in configuration from my new ones here on the Enterprise. I keep bumping into things. The side of the table, the leg of the chair. I hit my head on one of the shelves last night. World's clumsiest botanist right here. But who cares? This is the Enterprise! Not that the Calpurnia wasn't great, but god. I still can't believe I made it here after only three years. They say it's the finest ship in the fleet and they don't lie. I never learned who recommended me to Captain Kirk, but I guess I'll have to live with that mystery.

Not wanting to be late, I rolled the opposite and correct way to the left and got up from my bed. I wasn't going to be late, though. My subconscious had woken me up fifteen minutes early. I stretched. I walked over to the mirror. I slapped myself in the face and mock-punched the wall. Hell yeah, I made it to the Enterprise. Of course I did, I'm freaking awesome. I stopped my shameless self-celebration and tried to focus. I'm always kind of high-strung in the morning but at least I'm not a walking corpse like some people.

After a shower I pulled my uniform out of the drawer and put it on. I always wear the men's variation of shirt and pants. Miniskirts are just not practical for gallivanting around the stars. Or, well, bending down to examine an alien plant with twelve tentacles sprawled on the ground. I stared at myself in the mirror while I pulled up my hair. The kinky waves were kind of blonde but also orange, so I don't even try to put a name to it. Blonde, redhead, ginger, whatever. I don't need labels. I finally tackled the curls into an acceptable bun and stood blinking at myself for a few seconds. My green eyes looked back at me like they always do, the nerds. I sat down on my bed and pulled on my boots. I glanced at the time and started moving faster. My slowness had actually eaten up all of my extra time. Lieutenant Uhura invited me to her quarters for a sort of welcome breakfast. Yeah, I know, my popularity has no bounds.

I left my quarters, following the directions Uhura had given me, and arrived at her quarters. Before I reached the doors they opened and Uhura came rushing out, looking like she was in a hurry. She paused when she saw me.

"Sorry, Ensign." she said, "I'm needed on the bridge. Odd transmission that could have come from a missing Andorian ship. We'll meet up later, okay?"

"Sure." I said. She smiled and continued on her way. I watched her go and then decided to keep going to the lounge for some food. I had an hour until I was to report to Science Lab 2. I was ambling down the hallway, just thinking to myself, and I accidentally bumped into someone. I looked up. He looked down at me.

"My apologies," he said, "I don't usually see much traffic on this deck right now."

I considered him. He had dark brown hair and a happy face, amiable. But he also seemed just a bit confident. Hmm.

"Oh, it was my fault," I replied. I leveled a gaze right into his eyes. "I'm the new officer for the survey on Acheron V."

"New. So, Ensign, do you have a name? Mine's Wells." His deep voice lingered for a moment on "Wells".

"Well, Lieutenant Wells, you can call me Frederick," I replied. I touched the sleeve of his red shirt. He smiled in a small, sending-a-message kind of way.

"I guess you'll be pretty busy with your new duties, Frederick?" he asked. He looked me in the eyes. It was common knowledge that the new botany officer wouldn't have much going until we reached Acheron V.

"Yeah, pretty busy." I said. His confident stare melted into confusion. "Well, see you later Wells." I stayed just long enough to get a mumbled "bye" and then left.

I chatted with Nurse Chapel over breakfast and then left for the lab. Fortunately I didn't walk into another stranger. There was only one other person there, who I assumed to be Lieutenant Marion Holmes, the officer who was to inform me of the particulars of my current mission and introduce me to the equipment in the lab. I stood just inside the doors. Her back was to me and it looked like she was busy with some test tubes. Standing there, I peered around at the grey walls and counters holding microscopes and other tools. The screen of the computer on a front table stared back at me, questioning an awkward silence that had settled in the room since I arrived. I cleared my throat.

"Lieutenant Holmes?" I waited for a response. Nothing came. I tried again, a little louder, Lieutenant Holmes? I'm Ensign Frederick." She whirled around like someone had come up behind her and yelled "boo". I saw her face properly for the first time. She looked just about middle-aged but seemed a lot older than that. Perhaps it was the knowing look in her eyes that had quickly replaced the confused and frightened expression she first wore.

"Ahh, Ensign! You surprised me." She ran her fingers through her short brown hair. She didn't laugh but it seemed as if a chuckle was implied in her voice. She continued, "Yes, I'm Lieutenant Holmes. I'm sure you've heard of me before so I'll skip over the introductory part." She turned her back to me again and began packing up whatever she had been working on. "Just experimenting with some acids that might come in handy one day here," she said. She capped a final test tube and put them all in a cupboard. I moved closer and watched her quickly clean her workspace and wash her hands.

"This lab is almost identical to the lab on the Calpurnia," I commented. "Same equipment, I suppose." Holmes looked at me.

"Yes," she smiled, "I never intended to show you our equipment. You must already be quite proficient with it. I do, however, need to tell you that the lab is yours throughout the duration of your assignment. You may choose whoever you want to be on your survey team."

"Excellent." Holmes nodded at me and walked over to the computer. I followed her. She pulled up my assignment.

"I assume you've read this through in its entirety?"

"Of course." I was to lead a team on Acheron V and take a detailed survey of the vegetation on one of the islands. Previous Federation visits had found some strange flora there and Starfleet wanted more information on it.

"Very good," she answered, "I don't see any need, then, for me to be here any longer. Good luck with your work, Frederick." She walked to the door and turned around as she was about to exit. She looked me in the eyes and said, "Oh, and Ensign, welcome aboard the Enterprise." I smiled and nodded, and she left. The doors _whooshed_ behind her in an abrupt, final way.

I stood there, frozen and pensive. The meeting was certainly briefer than it was supposed to be, but I appreciated it. Holmes was giving me a lot of freedom here. She knew I was in line for a promotion at this point, and she knew this was to be a first test of my abilities. A leadership opportunity like this for an Ensign was not ordinary and clearly was meant to gage my potential. I grew a little tense as I thought about this. That's a lot of pressure. But how much could go wrong? This will certainly be a routine survey and it seemed simple enough.

I left the lab with the intention of looking for recruits of my survey team, but my plans were thrown off track when I bumped into yet another random person. Must stop doing that. I glanced up and my eyes moved from the fabric of a science blue shirt to the face of someone I had no expectation of seeing today. It was Commander Spock.

"Commander! I'm so sorry," I apologized.

"The fault was mine, Ensign," he replied. "You are wanted in the conference room. Shall we go there now?" I nodded my ascent, caught off guard by this turn of events. It didn't seem likely there would be a conference in which I was to be needed when we were still four days out from Acheron V. I followed Spock into the turbolift, knowing there would be answers to my curiosity in a short time.


End file.
